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3232Perspectives19: 20 Years in the Makinghttps://www.sumtotalsystems.com/blog/2019/05/perspectives19-20-years-in-the-making/
https://www.sumtotalsystems.com/blog/2019/05/perspectives19-20-years-in-the-making/#respondThu, 02 May 2019 13:44:49 +0000http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/?p=6738Well, it’s 2019 and another Perspectives is in the books. But this wasn’t just another event, another year. This year marked our 20th Perspectives. While trying not to feel too old about this, I’m proud to say I have attended 18 of the past 20 events. […]

Well, it’s 2019 and another Perspectives is in the books. But this wasn’t just another event, another year. This year marked our 20th Perspectives. While trying not to feel too old about this, I’m proud to say I have attended 18 of the past 20 events.

This year’s event saw many milestones: the 20th Anniversary, our opening keynote from our Executive Chairman, Ron Hovsepian, an articulation of our new strategy, and the introduction of innovative technology. As a Skillsoft and SumTotal event, we have truly moved to a point where customers and partners are an essential part of the strategy that influences our solutions. It was great to connect with many other colleagues I’ve come to know over the years attending this event.

If you’ll indulge me, let’s take a brief step back to see the journey to today. I can recall one of my first Perspectives events in New Orleans, right around the time of the SmartForce merger. Elliott Masie was a keynote speaker and at the conclusion of his speech, he asked for any questions from the audience. There was an awkward silence so I mustered up the nerve to ask the first question. Can’t recall exactly what it was, but I can say it was rewarded with a free pass to his Tech Learn, now Learning, event.

Two of my most memorable Perspectives I attended as a customer occurred in 2005 and 2007, both at the Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson, Nevada. In 2005, I arrived late to the event and was informed that the hotel was sold out. Not to worry, I would be provided a suite for the night. What followed was my introduction to a 3,000 sq. ft. suite with its own pool, and pool table! You could say we had two customer evening events that year. My other fond memory in 2007 and winning the “Skillsoft Learning Leader of the Year Award.”

Over the years Perspectives has seen many changes in location, attendance, management, and customer evening events. Speaking with attendees at this year’s event, there was again that sense of nostalgia for the past 20 years, but also an excitement as we see the possibilities for the next 20. The one thing that has been constant is the amazing networking and comradery of its attendees. Not just for the product information, but also for the insight that an industry leader has on the broader landscape of training and development.

Customers have always had unprecedented access to the senior leadership of both companies to discuss their needs and identify ways to grow both product lines. As a former customer and now employee, this has always been one of my favorite events to attend each year. Even as a young manager, I was thrilled to have had substantial conversations with both the CEO and COO of Skillsoft. I’m honored to say that both had a direct impact on my decision to become a part of this organization and consider them friends to this day.

It is evident that Perspectives has driven product development for both Skillsoft and SumTotal through feedback from the customer base. Our industry has changed so much as the role of learning has taken on new significance with the development of skills as they related to career development and advancement. Perspectives continues to be an event that brings together new professionals to the field with seasoned attendees who love to discuss the “art of the possible.”

Who doesn’t love company conferences, right? A three-day jam-packed event filled with networking, knowledge sharing, software updates, presentations, expert’s panels and karaoke. This year was my first-time attending Perspectives. It did not disappoint. With everything going on, I could have used another day.

For me, the most valuable takeaways stemmed from the many one on one conversations I had with customers. Speaking directly to customers and absorbing their stories increased my knowledge not only from a software but also from an organizational perspective. What are they doing differently? How can I take their successes and share them with other clients? We don’t need to reinvent the wheel; we need to share our collective knowledge more often.

Perspectives also provided me with the unique opportunity to interact with the SumTotal leadership team. For those of us who work from home, it is often a struggle to connect with the senior executives at your organization and talking on the phone or doing a video chat can only accomplish so much. Having worked at other large organizations, I believed it would take a miracle to cross paths with the head of sales, an SVP or a Chief Operating Officer (COO). Not so at SumTotal. Over the three days in Orlando these folks were in my meetings, talking to our customers and just generally everywhere doing their best to reinforce the SumTotal brand. It felt really good to sit down with these leaders and get to know them on a personal level too.

In between meetings with clients and prospective customers, I attended several sessions. The keynote presentation from Daniel Pink sticks out in my mind. Everything he spoke about he backed with scientific fact, and I now know the ‘perfect time’ to do tasks throughout the day. It makes sense now why I’m the most productive between 6 am and noon and why later in the afternoon I start to lose steam. His book “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing” is well worth the read!

On Tuesday, I attended Craig Weiss’s session, Battle Royale – LMS v LXP. Craig did a fantastic job of explaining the differences between a learning management system and a learning experience platform and how each is beneficial to organizations. Many companies think that they need one or the other when in reality, they should invest in both. These systems have some overlapping technology, but they are designed for two very different purposes. To learn more, read the blog by Apratim Purakayastha, our CTO, How to Determine the Best Learning Platform for Your Needs.

Later that day, I sat down with a few of our partners to learn more about their strategies. RapidLD, GP Strategies, Chasma and dominKnow are just a few companies with whom I spoke. I’ve had a handful of conversations with each over the past year, but meeting them in person is entirely different. Each partner brings something unique to the table. From implementation and consulting to dashboarding and content authoring, these partnerships are powerful for our customers. SumTotal is doing an incredible job of offering clients a partner ecosystem to help them execute on their strategies. Sometimes, our customers “don’t know what they don’t know” and it’s our job to help teach them.

A glimpse of the sights on City Walk, Universal, Orlando

Tuesday evening was a blast! We had three hours at City Walk in Orlando with food, drinks, entertainment, dancing, networking, and karaoke. In other words, the perfect setting for everyone to unwind after a long day full of presentations and discussions about talent development and learning strategies. It was also another excellent opportunity to meet more customers. Expanding my network and ‘reach’ is one of my passions so when possible I’d take out my phone and invite these people to connect with me on the LinkedIn. Why does the conversation have to stop at the conference? Maybe there is something I’ll share on LinkedIn over the next few years that will help them in their job. Who knows!

Day three brought even more fantastic sessions. I sat in on Learning Management: Latest Innovations & The Road Ahead with Jim Poisson of the product management team. Jim took the room through an update on what’s coming from SumTotal. As a sales director, Jim’s session brought me up to speed on the roadmap and what updates and enhancements to expect. Seeing our customers react and share feedback was incredibly exciting. Our customers help shape our product, so watching their eyes light up when they see that their suggestions are part of the solution is especially rewarding.

(Left-right) Su Joun, Stacey Gordon, Jennifer Brown and Heide Abelli

Fortunately, I was able to attend the final panel discussion on Enabling Diversity & Inclusion in the Modern Workplace Panel before catching my flight home. What a powerful conversation. Diversity and inclusion is an ever-evolving conversation in the workplace, and it’s great to be a part of an organization that is leading the charge.

You never know what to expect from a user conference. Some hit the nail on the head and some miss. For me, Perspectives hit the bullseye. More than 1,100 customers, partners and employees came together with one common goal — how do we attract, train, engage and retain our most significant asset! Organizations are not successful without their people.

Already, I am looking forward to 2020’s Perspectives event. If you need help convincing your company to let you go, reach out to your Customer Success Manager so they can help you establish a business case! I look forward to meeting all of you next year.

At the recent Learning Technologies conference back in February, I attended a session entitled Lessons from the Frontline of Learning Technology Implementations. We heard four different stories covering everything from rolling out a new LMS, designing for the many different levels of digital expertise and familiarity to creating a global connectivity infrastructure embedded into the daily workflow rather than a separate entity. […]

At the recent Learning Technologies conference back in February, I attended a session entitled Lessons from the Frontline of Learning Technology Implementations. We heard four different stories covering everything from rolling out a new LMS, designing for the many different levels of digital expertise and familiarity to creating a global connectivity infrastructure embedded into the daily workflow rather than a separate entity.

Given the conference’s overall theme of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, it was somewhat fitting that one of the four, LMS Program Lead at Mettler-Toledo, Michael Redford, addressed how automation frees up time. He discussed how his organization is using the automation capabilities of its LMS to facilitate and increase employee learning and development engagement, particularly around critical compliance training due to the industry Mettler-Toledo operates in.

Listening to Michael got me thinking about the many automation capabilities of an LMS and how these functions increase efficiencies and results with minimal effort and time.

Manage multiple languages

Today’s organisations, in particular HR and L&D departments, are acutely aware that to fully engage and develop all employees it is no longer prudent to offer training in one language. Now it’s about choice. LMSs can provide this capability by giving each user a personal account, and when they sign up, they then can select from a list of options, including the choice of their preferred language. This feature is particularly essential for global multi-national enterprises who want to implement consistency of training across regions especially around meeting mandatory compliance training.

Deliver personalised learning paths

Learning and career development do not happen in a silo. Employees need to see what skills they need to gain today for roles they want in the future. However, not knowing where they are at and how they move forward can prevent employees from taking action. Personalised learning paths give employees a view into their learning progress and provide individualised recommendations – ensuring employees know what they need to do to get to their next role and staying engaged throughout the process.

Send automatic notifications

These are system generated, multi-lingual and are hugely beneficial in helping improve learner interaction with training. The types of notifications that resonate with L&D teams include assignment details, deadline reminders, and an overdue deadline note. Notifications are also hugely valuable for interacting with remote or mobile employees and facilitate a direct line of communication regardless of location or schedule of the learner.

Assign learners via a data upload job

Using the LMS data import process, an organisation can upload HCM employee data and schedule learning via the “scheduled assignment job”. This feature enables L&D or HR to then assign a group of employees to the learning needed to meet compliance needs and obtain the skills required for effective succession planning.

Schedule delivery and reports

Using this feature allows an organisation to send key stakeholders a variety of reports. Additionally, these reports are an invaluable tool for L&D departments demonstrating the value and impact of their programs on the organisation

Streamline onboarding

When a new employee starts a job, part of the onboarding process often includes the completion of specific training. Again, your LMS should consist of a function that allows you to automatically process all new hire required assignments including the welcome letter, forms, first-day schedule, recommended learning and facilitate collaboration with peers and mentors.

SumTotal’s award-winning Learning Management provides all these automation functions and so much more. See for yourself just why the industry analyst Craig Weiss said, “SumTotal has done a masterful job in the overall of the whole UI and UX” when he included the solution in his top 10 LMS Learning Systems for 2019.

]]>https://www.sumtotalsystems.com/blog/2019/04/maximising-the-automation-function-of-your-lms/feed/0SumTotal’s Latest Release 19.1 – New Customer-Centric Designhttps://www.sumtotalsystems.com/blog/2019/04/sumtotals-latest-release-19-1-new-customer-centric-design/
https://www.sumtotalsystems.com/blog/2019/04/sumtotals-latest-release-19-1-new-customer-centric-design/#respondTue, 16 Apr 2019 10:23:17 +0000http://www.sumtotalsystems.com/?p=6493Today, we announced the latest version of SumTotal Customers spoke, and we listened. In fact, a significant portion of the enhancements we made is a direct result of customer input via our Design Partner Program. I believe, with these new features and functionality we are demonstrating that SumTotal products are market-friendly and very end-user aware. […]

Today, we announced the latest version of SumTotal Customers spoke, and we listened. In fact, a significant portion of the enhancements we made is a direct result of customer input via our Design Partner Program. I believe, with these new features and functionality we are demonstrating that SumTotal products are market-friendly and very end-user aware.

So, what is included in this release?

We made a ton of updates. Since there are too many to explore in this blog post, here are several highlights. These are some of the critical changes that will significantly enhance the experience of working with SumTotal’s products and hopefully contribute towards making your job easier to complete. I’ve added screenshots to give you a visual of some of these changes.

Talent Development

We’ve extended our REST-based integration framework to allow customers and partners to easily integrate SumTotal with their internal HR and business systems and extend the functionality of the SumTotal suite. Some areas where this benefits include goals, gamification and recruiting.

Career mobility enhancements

Employees can create personalized development plans, with multiple goal periods and an interactive progress bar, to promote more agile career growth and mobility within their organization.

Redesigned succession planning

Managers and leaders can easily compare, rate, print and export talent pools in traditional performance versus potential 9-box grids as hundreds of additional comparison possibilities using the new n-box technology.

Mobile Optimization

For mobile-only users, this release ensures that these employees have a full, seamless experience delivered entirely through the mobile app. Learners can personalize the experience from a mobile device without ever logging into the desktop application. Also, the enhancements enable users to easily access the SumTotal suite – Learning Management, Talent Management, and Workforce Management – from a single app.

Universal Content Support

We expanded our content aggregation partners to include LinkedIn learning. Additional features allow learners to create custom playlists and share recommended content with colleagues and other users. In addition, we offer support for crowdsourced learning content from smartphones as well as now providing documentation for mobile on the job training.

Seamless Extended Enterprise Capabilities

We enhanced our Extended Enterprise solution to provide an end-to-end, single-entry solution with complete e-commerce support, making it easier for customers and partners to deliver learning to their learning ecosystem.

Ahead of his webinar with us later this month, David Wilson, CEO of Fosway Group, Europe’s #1 HR industry analyst, joins us to share his thoughts on the importance of talent and people development today. […]

Ahead of his webinar with us later this month, David Wilson, CEO of Fosway Group, Europe’s #1 HR industry analyst, joins us to share his thoughts on the importance of talent and people development today.

The editor for Wired Magazine David Rowan, is often quoted as saying that: “The world will never move this slowly ever again.”

This captures the experience of many of us at both an individual and an organisational level. A sense of technology and work moving faster and faster; being impacted by advances in technology, how we work and who we work with as well, whilst changes in demographics mean we now have a much more diverse workforce.

From our research, here is just a snapshot of the serious change impacting organisations like yours.

The dynamics around organisations are changing:

Employees with the right skills are in intense demand – 54%

Employees’ wellbeing is critical to becoming an employer of choice – 46%

Employees work where skills are in demand rather than because of company loyalty – 42%

Employees’ performance management is based on a continuous review process – 42%

Employees are sourced globally – 39%

Employees work in flatter organisational structure – 33%

The nature of work is changing:

Employees use technology for more and more virtual working – 68%

Collaboration and social media tools are key to working – 55%

Employees use self-service to do their work and maintain their data – 50%

Employees experience more virtual and augmented technologies at work – 46%

Employees work primarily using mobile devices – 44%

Employees are connected to work 24/7 – 41%

Nearly half of our research respondents confirmed that an aging workforce is a growing trend in their organisation and 45% highlighted that their teams are becoming increasingly diverse.

When this is combined with the increasing speed and impact of technology, organisational success and agility becomes not just about harnessing the energies of newer entrants to work, but also about maximising those with more mature careers.

Expectations about what keeps and attracts employees is becoming more obvious

When we asked HR professionals to rate the importance of what might make them an employer of choice it’s the personal growth of employees that looms largest:

Personal and professional development – 69%

Career progression – 64%

Utilises latest technologies – 63%

Flexible working – 62%

Progressive & dynamic organisational culture – 58%

Strong vision, values and purpose of organisation – 57%

But when asked if their systems area a good fit for the modern workforce, the resounding answer is NO!

Nearly 70% of organisations from our latest research in association with SumTotal, the findings of which we will release in the coming weeks, say their systems are not fit for the modern workforce. And when we look more closely at talent management, only 9% believe their solutions fully meet expectations.

Without wishing to understate this, there appears to be a crisis in talent management today. 91% of organisations are not able to deliver the sort of experience that enables them to attract and retain the best people in the modern economy.

And with 47% of organisations declaring they either have no systems in place or just use Excel spreadsheets, the scale of the under-investment in people becomes abundantly clear.

But the opportunities are immense.

What consistently stands out from this, and Fosway’s ongoing research, is the importance placed on individual growth and learning. Whether it is in the priorities for improvement in the organisation’s Employee Value Proposition (EVP) or the biggest differentiator of an organisation’s EVP to their existing and prospective talent – learning consistently tops the bill.

As you can see here, the word cloud built from the free text responses to the survey question ‘What part of your talent and people development approach do your employees value the most’ tells the story perfectly.

And against a consistent message from business leaders themselves – there is no reason not to act. The writing is on the wall with a skills crisis looming.

There are simply not enough people with the right skills available. So, what is clear is that you need to grow and develop those people yourself if your organisation is to keep pace with the speed of modern business.

And the great part is that investing in that proposition actually creates a virtuous circle in your organisation, because the opportunity to learn and develop is the #1 reason people want to join your organisation – or leave it if those opportunities are not available.

The war for talent is wide open to those who invest in their people relationship strategies

But in a world where successful organisations need to attract, stimulate and keep employees who love to learn. What a great coincidence that that is the reason why the best talent wants to join your organisation.

Talent is attracted to those who develop and grow the careers of its people.

Which means there has never been a better time to invest in your people development story. Not only will it help you bridge the skills gaps, and help you retain your talent, it will also help you attract the best too… And with the bar sadly set so low, as our research shows, it’s easier than you might have thought to a leader in talent today – and unlock the people potential of your organisation for tomorrow.

I’ll be hosting a webinar in association with SumTotal Systems which explores ‘Unlocking the People Potential in your Organisation’.Register today.

You can follow David via @dwil23 and Fosway on @fosway for more insight and analysis on HR, talent and learning.

Successful compliance training is all about process and result. The operation must be airtight so that employees complete the learning within any mandated time frame and all records are accurate and easily accessible. While the consequences of non-compliance vary, typically they amount to a serious problem for your business. […]

Successful compliance training is all about process and result. The operation must be airtight so that employees complete the learning within any mandated time frame and all records are accurate and easily accessible. While the consequences of non-compliance vary, typically they amount to a serious problem for your business. To avoid such consequences organisations must utilise a reliable and future-ready learning management system (LMS) to ensure their compliance training achieves the desired outcomes. Granted, you can conduct compliance training without software or even with a commodity-line software, but this is time-consuming and bound to include human error or, more dangerously, a data integrity risk. For example, if you audit training completion records using XLS, you run the risk of inputting mistakes.

The role of a learning management system in compliance

The most obvious advantage of an LMS is that not only will it minimize the risk of human error, it also produces that all-important audit trail. However, a comprehensive LMS can offer so much more. Often organisations implement a flexible training approach which tends to expand maintenance and increase the danger of compliance violations, so organisations significantly benefit if they use an LMS that includes capabilities to address this.

Here are the top five ways an LMS assists with compliance training efforts.

Course management

The ideal LMS allows you to create assessments, surveys, curriculums, certifications and upload documents, videos, and online eLearning courses in formats like SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, AICC, xAPI, and CMI5. The platform should also provide open activity architecture that ensures you can create your own activity type. This function is critical if you are planning to curate content, in addition to managing compliance, in a dynamic environment where regulations are in a constant state of flux.

Training and compliance certification

The benefits of certification are significant and vary from better-trained employees, increased company credibility, and worldwide recognition of employees, to a documented commitment to safety and third-party endorsement of employees’ skills and knowledge. Earning certifications also tends to motivate employees to pursue ongoing training actively. Moreover, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made it compulsory for the pharmaceutical industry to implement those processes which are following Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 11. Hence, in some industries compliance certification is critical.

Compliance reporting and tracking

This capability is particularly critical for pharmaceutical companies. The LMS can provide an audit trail of the company to help meet all FDA audit requirements (Title 21 CFR Part 11 and EU Annex 11) by delivering audit report logs for users, learner activity, and roster changes.

Off-the-shelf learning compliance content

Equally important to the administration of content is the content itself. Therefore, having an LMS that delivers on the provision of off the shelf compliance content natively within the system is a significant advantage. Again, ideally, an organisation wants material that blends naturally into the organisation’s learning eco-system with pre-curated learning channels, videos, books and audio-books.

Security

I recommend looking for a feature like Cloudops Security Policy, the one SumTotal’s LMS uses. It is based on NIST 800-53 and addresses various aspects of the operation as it relates to security. Since the hosting process is managed independently from our corporate network, we have our own policies and procedures beyond what a typical learning management system outsourced to partners would rely upon.

eSignatures

This supports signoffs for the completion of training (by employees, managers, and instructors/administrators).

Auditing

An organisation can provide a full audit log of changes made to the records (users, activities, and rosters). This audit log offers details for the original value of the record, the updated value, as well as the user who performed the change and a timestamp of that change.

Versioning

Certification

Any learning activity, blended or otherwise, can be set as a certification training. An administrator can define the expiration rule and configure all recertification, grace period, retraining options and notifications.

Selecting an LMS that serves a holistic purpose, ensures compliance training is managed with maximum efficiency, and produces the desired outcomes means taking the time to take a close look at what’s available in the market. Training Industry recently ranked Skillsoft and SumTotal among the 2018 Top Learning Portal/LMS Companies and among the Top 20 Health and Safety Training Companies. Recognised for its ability to seamlessly integrate an organisation’s LMS, talent and workforce management, SumTotal’s LMS supports the complete employee lifecycle and enables learning, including compliance become a core business process.

See for yourself the full extent of how SumTotal’s LMS. Sign up today for a personalised demonstration to discover just we can do for your organisation.

The US is experiencing historically low unemployment numbers. Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute 2018 Skills Gap Study, found that 2.4 million jobs will likely go unfilled over the next decade and that over the next decade more than $2.5 trillion in manufacturing GDP is in jeopardy. Furthermore, more than 90% of CHROs believe that competition for critical talent will only get more competitive over the next twelve months.

I could go on: however, the point is talent development is now a strategic imperative. Organizations, if they are to succeed, must establish a new approach to employee recruitment, development and retention. While there is nothing new about this sentiment, what is perhaps novel is that ownership for this objective will now fall to HR. That although in many ways executives and senior leadership may prioritize and drive the talent development strategy, the task of executing on such planning belongs to HR.

Facing such a behemoth task HR must consider these five critical areas to deliver on this target.

Company Culture

What may surprise some is that an employee’s rating of “culture and values” is 4.9 times more predictive of a company recommendation than salary and benefits. Companies who have a clear vision for their culture and who work strategically to foster it produce happy employees who want to share their experience. Identity is a powerful thing. A clear sense of company culture allows an organization to say “this is who we are,” and bolsters loyalty and contentment amongst employees. It is also imperative for attracting new employees. As my blog, Why Employer Branding is Just as Important as the Company Brand, demonstrates, candidates are increasingly researching a company before they apply for a job. It is also worth noting that from a potential employee’s perspective, an essential part of an organization’s culture is what learning and development opportunities exist. In fact, 94% of employees surveyed said they would stay at a company longer if it invests in their careers.

Upskill

“It’s not a nicety; it’s almost a business imperative,” said Bill Pelster, a principal at professional services firm Deloitte Consulting LLP, of the importance of reskilling workers. Employees want professional development and organizations need a pool of talent from which to draw the rapidly emerging skillsets necessary to succeed in the modern economy. It’s a win-win. Plus, developing internal talent costs one-sixth the price of hiring an external candidate, and they gain the same skills as an external new hire in 9 to 12 months.

Focusing on upskilling and reskilling enables organizations to address the skills shortage with precision. Given the pace of change with AI, automation and digital transformation, the shelf life of skills has shortened considerably, placing enormous pressure on organizations to bridge the widening skills gap. Businesses must be ready to invest in L&D with a proactive approach to address this growing problem. The right solutions offer a comprehensive view of the people and their skills which make up the workforce, allowing businesses to close skills gaps, map succession plans and prepare for the coming waves of digital transformation.

Diversity & Inclusion (D&I)

In Diversity in the Workplace: Good for People, Good for Business we addressed the issue of the business case for changing the demographics of the workplace to reflect the changing demographics of our community, our industry and our world. While homogenous teams were once thought to be easier to manage, the similarities amongst members created biased patterns of problem-solving and often led to groupthink. Today organizations are diversifying to advance company culture and spur innovation. Recruitment policies must align with D&I efforts. Organizations need to ensure they are taking measures to broaden the talent pool.

Consumer-Grade Technology

Most leading HR departments are already utilizing technology to redefine the employee experience particularly as it regards L&D opportunities. However, introducing online learning capabilities is not sufficient. Employees expect the simplicity they’ve grown accustomed to from today’s app-centric consumer solutions with their intuitive user experience. Therefore, it is essential that any learning platform selected must be visually appealing, intuitive and easy to use. However, it’s not just about aesthetics. When choosing a learning management system, HR must ensure it offers sophisticated data collection and analytics that give HR leaders and L&D professionals the ability to:

Employee Retention

Attracting new talent is just one piece of the puzzle. Another piece is making sure employees stay. Onboarding, or rather effective onboarding, plays a critical role in ensuring new hires do not leave within the first year. It’s also the ideal opportunity to introduce the new employee to the culture, value and expectations of the organization and sets the stage for learning and career growth for each employee. I believe onboarding is most successful when it is personalized to provide employees with the mentoring, goal setting and resources they need to be successful in their day-to-day role. In a move, I highly recommend, some organizations are taking onboarding a step further and continuing to deliver guidance and support as employees move from one position to the next.

I also believe forward-looking companies are overhauling how an employee receives performance reviews. Most have abandoned the traditional annual performance review system and replaced it with more frequent and regular interaction between the manager and employees. Included in these “reviews” are topics such as timely reviews, development and goal setting objectives, further contributing towards the value and giving the employee a sense of purpose.

There is no better time than the present to prioritize your organization’s talent development strategy. Want to learn more about how to accomplish this objective? Read our newest whitepaper, Talent Agility in an Emerging Workforce, by Morne Swart, SumTotal’s VP of Global Product Strategy and Transformational Leader.

Perspectives, Skillsoft’s annual user conference, is fast approaching. It’s one of my favorite events of the year because not only do I get to hang out somewhere new, I get to do that with colleagues and friends I rarely see throughout the rest of the year. […]

Perspectives, Skillsoft’s annual user conference, is fast approaching. It’s one of my favorite events of the year because not only do I get to hang out somewhere new, I get to do that with colleagues and friends I rarely see throughout the rest of the year. After spending a few years out West, we are moving to Orlando and the Hilton Bonnet Creek hotel. My colleagues Tara O’Sullivan and Dan Boccabella have already offered an overview of what attendees can expect from this year’s agenda including keynote speakers and a sampling of some of the exciting breakout sessions. Today I want to talk about the event from a slightly different angle, the partner. We have over 200 global partners, and Perspectives always provides us with the perfect opportunity to come together, work together and share the latest product updates and industry news.

I’m delighted to announce that this year our Partner Summit will take place on Monday, April 15 from 12 until 5 pm. The plan is to start with both Skillsoft and SumTotal partners over lunch and a keynote, and then split into respective tracks for more intimate, in-depth sessions.

Given that Perspectives is about hearing and representing the voice of the customer, I asked Bluewater and rapidLD to tell us a little about why they believe Perspectives is a calendar highlight for them as partners.

Dave Seligsohn, General Manager, Bluewater Analytics

Bluewater, a SumTotal partner, has attended Perspectives for the past five years. We’ve always found the conference the ideal time to interact with existing clients like 3M, GE and American Airlines and to introduce some new clients such as Regeneron, Dollar Tree and Equinix to SumTotal. The opportunity to collaborate, strategize and learn from both the sales and service delivery team members and the SumTotal leadership is instrumental in helping us to develop and coordinate our partnership strategy to support any new opportunities.

For a successful customer relationship, nothing beats the personal face-to-face experience which is why Perspectives works so well as it allows us to meet with clients, listen to their needs and expectations, design the solutions and prepare a plan for how both Bluewater and SumTotal can best serve the customer.

I’m excited to say that this year my colleague Mark Smiley is presenting a session, 5 Benefits of a Business Blueprinting Model for Workforce Management. Over the course of forty minutes, he’ll explain how to take the panic out of payroll by using a Business Blueprinting methodology to identify the critical factors like target processes, events or triggers, functions, activities, capabilities, dependencies and systems. I’ll also be available to answer any questions people have about our newest addition, Bluewater Analytics. This division will support more effective data-based decision-making for SumTotal clients. We offer Analytics Strategy Development, Decision Blueprinting, Custom Report Development, Data Audit and Remediation services, and a data aggregation tool. –

Jim Everidge, President, rapidLD

Perspectives offers customers the perfect opportunity to get some perspective around their vision to transform their companies into optimum learning organizations. All too often, customers find that these visions have “holes” or “blind spots,” sections that lack clarity in the solution, execution or impact. Perspectives, however, provides a conduit, a way to “see” those missing components. This transparency comes from hearing the experiences of your fellow learning professionals, Skillsoft partners, and the Skillsoft team members. Each of these groups has specific expertise that can help complete your learning and development (L&D) objectives.

At rapidLD, our mission is to help customers realize their learning and talent objectives. We focus on the business impact of L&D particularly in the area of how organizations are leveraging tools like SumTotal’s Learning Management and Talent Management solutions to drive and achieve their goals. We know how challenging this is and how the actual execution of a target is more difficult than initially anticipated. Moving any organization to a better state of business performance, whether large or small, can be similar to pushing a rope uphill!

We hope to utilize Perspectives 2019 as a way for customers to talk to us about where they want to go and figure out how rapidLD can help them get there. We plan to offer our unique perspective to ensure organizations attain that future vision. Join us in Orlando and let us take you on that journey to the future. –

As a child, I dreaded the ubiquitous school class group project. Invariably someone in our group took charge, someone else did nothing, and perhaps one or two others and I did all the work for little or no recognition. […]

As a child, I dreaded the ubiquitous school class group project. Invariably someone in our group took charge, someone else did nothing, and perhaps one or two others and I did all the work for little or no recognition. Fast forward to today, and I now view group work in an entirely new light. It’s not easy to ensure everyone has a voice and can contribute to truly collaborative group work, but when it happens, the effort pays off in impressive ways.

What are the benefits of employee collaboration?

Collaboration sparks innovation when each person brings their own experiences, knowledge and skills to the table. Legend has it that Microsoft introduced the idea of using a mouse to click on-screen objects to tell it what to do. Xerox first adopted this functionality in their Alto computers, and many believe that this is where Steve Jobs first saw it, inspiring the graphical user interface of the Apple Macintosh. Although this isn’t an example of people working in a team, it does demonstrate what can happen when people share and build off each other’s ideas. Imagine the possibilities of employees learning from each other and generating new ideas.

Some of the other benefits of collaboration on an organization are:

Organizational flexibility – working together makes it easier to pivot when strategies and priorities change

Employees are engaged – when collaboration works, workers get excited to take on new projects and embrace change

Attract top talent – candidates want to work with people they respect and can learn from

Different departments and different offices and skills can be brought together to make a project more successful.

Increased profitability – because of all of the above the bottom line will grow and propel the business forward

Not surprisingly, technology is now helping to make workplace collaboration easier than ever. This trend is reflected in the growth of the collaboration market from $30.40 billion in 2017 to an estimated $59.86 billion by 2023. Part of the reason for such a tremendous increase is that ever-changing landscape of the workforce. Everything from the rise of the remote worker to the new flexibility around work schedules is playing a part in why collaboration is now a daily part of an employee’s day.

Studies also demonstrate that utilizing innovative process and networking tools can improve productivity by 20 to 30%. I experienced this first hand recently when our team moved to a new intranet and shared, over our work social networking site, the necessary tips and tricks to make the transition as smooth and efficient as possible.

Furthermore, working collaboratively fosters employee engagement. Engaged workers feel more connected to their company, leading to a 21% increase in productivity, heightened passion for their job and a more positive attitude during coworker interactions. Working in a team can spark innovation because each person brings their own experiences, knowledge and skills to the table, allowing opportunities for ideas to grow and expand as you listen to each other’s opinions.

Recognizing the power of collaboration, SumTotal helps today’s organizations foster collaboration with strong social elements like blog posts and communities that can share discussions, files and best practices. Ultimately, connections and collaboration keep your workforce performing at a higher level, supports retention and learning throughout the employee lifecycle—desirable outcomes for businesses of any size or maturity.

For example, SumTotal’s social platform – shown here – is one of the features of the SumTotal Performance Management solution. Managers can create communities to share blogs, files and start discussions amongst teams. SumTotal’s social platform also integrates with other third-party platforms like Yammer to encourage idea sharing and problem-solving.

To learn more about how SumTotal can drive the success of talent development and demonstrate how technology can support this goal, watch the Talent Agility in an Emerging Workforce webinar.

Less than 10% of organizations can use data and technology to create “what-if” predictive planning.

Less than one-third of companies plan modest or significant investments in data analytics or technology selection in 2019.

In an age where continuous learning is essential to drive new skills and behaviors, fewer than half of companies effectively link learning to performance.

Two out of three organizations can’t prove their leadership programs significantly impact business objectives. Of those, 71% say they don’t have the data and analytics to demonstrate the impact.

Stemming the tide of challenges

Using AI, predictive analytics and other elements of data science, organizations can implement new ways to find and retain the best talent. Here are just a few examples of how these tools can address many of the challenges HR currently faces:

AI can improve recruitment processes by leveraging automation to more efficiently and effectively build better candidate relationships and develop more impactful hiring and retention strategies.

Organizations must embrace a “learner experience” mindset which means learning must be engaging and attractive to the learner. Organizations need to leverage advanced technological platforms to analyze learner outcomes and automatically guide employees through a highly interactive learning journey to accomplish this.

To identify the right leaders and properly construct their development path, it is critical that leadership development programs now incorporate highly sophisticated self-assessment platforms and other cutting-edge analytical tools.

Organizations are becoming highly diverse. Technology, data and analytics are essential to fundamentally reshape how we think about diversity and inclusion, and help us to identify unconscious bias and remove it from the workplace.

By leveraging people analytics powered by AI, talent leaders can create a prospective view that directs how, where and when talent must evolve to meet future business needs. Talent development must be re-imagined to balance data and emotional intelligence to make critical workforce decisions.

Organizations are facing talent challenges more complicated than ever. However, with the advances in technology, the ability to solve these challenges is more powerful than ever before. Organizations and HR professionals must push themselves to evolve with the times and embrace the new digital era of transformation and technological advancement.